Thursday, October 06, 2011
at
7:48 AM

Posted by Kihyun Jung, Google eBooks Product Manager

We're happy to announce that we've just opened a new chapter of our Google eBookstore today. Google eBooks is now available in the United Kingdom. Readers in the UK now have access to the world's largest ebooks collection, with hundreds of thousands of ebooks for sale – from major UK publishers like Hachette, Random House and Penguin – as well as more than two million public domain ebooks for free.

Just as in the US, we’ve designed the Google eBooks platform in the UK to be open. You can purchase, download and view Google eBooks on many devices: Android and Apple tablets and smartphones, the Google eBooks Web Reader and eReaders from Sony, Kobo, Elonex, and more. Your Google eBooks are stored in the cloud, so you can easily access them and continue reading wherever you last left off, regardless of which device you were on.

We've partnered with independent booksellers, so you will soon be able to buy Google eBooks through your favourite bookstore. Booksellers like Gardners' Hive, as well as others to come, will be selling Google eBooks in the UK. We're also working with local retailers like Blackwell's as affiliate partners.

Since Google eBooks launched in 2010, it has enabled a rich ebooks ecosystem that includes application developers, publishers, device manufacturers, affiliates, and retailers. This gives consumers choice in what they buy, where they buy, and how they read.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a digital copy of Great Expectations while you're sitting on the Tube or having afternoon tea – it's on us.